Looking around the room, she figured Nic’s blood was exactly why she could see like she was wearing some kind of super-glasses, and why the colors of everything seemed so vibrant. Including the color of his eyes. A deep, chocolate brown that melted almost seamlessly into his pupil. Swallowing her nerves, she looked up at him. “What would it do?”
“Make you like me. Basically immortal.”
“A vampire,” she filled in the blank, and he sighed.
“Yes.” There was more than a touch of hesitation in his voice, and his eyes wouldn’t quite meet hers, but she knew what he was saying underneath the actual words. She was his match, his plehara, and if she didn’t choose to become like him… he’d be alone again. Eventually.
But he was still giving her the choice.
“If we did this… would I still be me? Would I have a… monster?” she asked, her voice growing quieter as she spoke.
Nic’s mouth twitched into a half-hearted smile. “You would always be you, Grace. You would just be more. Yes, there would be a part of you more vicious, more powerful, more dangerous… but that part would also keep you whole and safe. Even if I couldn’t be with you for some reason.”
“Where was your monster when you got cursed to be a statue?”
“Your mouth…” He chuckled, releasing her hands as he sat up on her hips. “For the record, they thought I was the devil… as in The Devil. They had no idea what I was and weren’t interested in listening… but they were desperate enough to ask a local witch to curse me.”
“An actual witch?”
“Yes. The little bitch found me in the woods, hit me with this mix of herbs and started to cast her spell, and I could have killed her… but there were too many other mortals. I would have ripped her apart to avoid that fate. My monster as you call it tried to protect me, to protect the both of us, but it couldn’t tear through all the mortals before she finished.”
“Instant stone monster?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Instant stone monster.”
“That sucks,” she replied, and he leaned over her, growling at her, but she ignored the frisson of fear and pushed his face away. The fact that he sat back, grinning, made her shake her head. “Not cool.”
“Being trapped as a statue more than sucked, Grace. I was hungry, but not starving to death because the stone froze that. It was just… constant hunger. Watching the world pass by and being unable to do a thing about it. The mortals who eventually discovered me were easy to lead. I could speak to their minds if they were close by, if they were listening, and I told them what was needed. The only thing that could free me and the beast.”
“Me,” she finished for him, and he smiled a little.
“My plehara… I’ve been chasing you for lifetimes, Grace. Sometimes I think I got close, missed you, sent them after the wrong woman, but—”
“What do you mean you’ve been chasing me?”
Nic reached forward and touched the center of her chest. “This is where we’re linked. It doesn’t matter what body I found you in, I’d know you. And if this isn’t the lifetime you want to be with me, then… I will simply find you in the next.”
“You’d really let me go?” she asked, not quite believing it, but the shadow crossing his face confirmed it before he’d even spoken.
“I’ve waited centuries for you, Grace. If you need me to wait again, then… at least I’m free. You gave me that gift, and I won’t ask for more.”
“Come here,” she beckoned, tugging him down by his shoulders even though she knew there was no way in hell he was moving unless he wanted to. It was half-terrifying, and half-exciting to know that someone so strong was hers. That someone with so much power wanted to share it with her, not lord it over her. As Nic braced his elbows at her sides, she brushed a touch above his eyes and then held his face in her hands. “If I did this, I’d still want to see my family. My friends.”
“That could be arranged,” he whispered, his voice shakier than she’d ever heard it. “Your job though—”
“I don’t give a fuck about my job. I’d love to quit that place.” She laughed when he looked relieved.
“Well, then… tell me what you want, and I will do it. I’ll burn the world down for you if you ask, Grace.” It was the incredibly serious tone to his voice that stifled the next laugh in her throat. Instead, she just shook her head.
“Not necessary. I just want to know what it will be like.”
He smiled, brushing her cheek with his thumb. “Everything you’re experiencing now with a hint of my blood in your veins… but exponentially more. And your power would only grow with time. I’ll teach you how.”
“What about… eating?” she asked, and he chuckled.
“Actual food is still an option, but you’ll find it’s not as satisfying as blood. And as far as that, well… we would actually nourish each other.” He leaned down and nuzzled her neck, nipping her playfully, but he didn’t break the skin. “Another benefit of finding your plehara.”
“So, I wouldn’t have to kill anyone?”
“No, Grace. If anyone needs killing, I’ll be the one to do that.” He grinned. “Unless they make you very, very angry… then I think I’d let you do it for fun.”
She couldn’t stop the matching grin from forming on her lips. “You realize you’re saying you want me forever, right? And you don’t even know me.”
“I’ve drank from you, Grace. I know more about you than you probably want me to know.” He paused for a moment, tongue tracing across his bottom lip as he looked over her face. “And if you choose this, you’ll know everything about me.”
“Everything?” she asked.
“Everything.” Another chaste kiss on her lips and then he lifted away from her, turning to sit up against the headboard. “And even if you don’t choose this, I’m going to keep trying to woo you until the day you die… and then I’ll just find you again and start over. But I must admit, I am partial to this version of you.”
It felt insane to want it. To want him. The man who had been a monster in her dreams, and a confusing, frustrating hallucination for most of the day. The same man who had become a terrifying nightmare for a moment, and then a ridiculously amazing lover. The one who could have taken everything he wanted — but instead, gave her a choice.
Nicomachus was clever, funny, kind in his own twisted way… and incredibly hot. That part definitely added bonus points in his corner, but there was more than all of that. Something bigger than their short time together, something more powerful than even who she perceived him to be.
She felt it in her chest — in her soul. A deep pull toward him, an indefinable need to be with him, to stay with him, to join him, because as much as she could sense the fear he had of losing her… she felt it too. She didn’t want to wait for the next life when he was right here, right now.
From the outside, it probably seemed crazy, but… she’d felt crazy all day. This was nothing new. With a deep breath, she scooted closer to him and took his hand.
“Okay, I’m in.”
“What?” he almost choked on the next inhale of air, sputtering for a moment as he squeezed her hand back hard. “You…”
“Go ahead and turn me, Dracula. I’m here to be your vampire bride.” She grinned when he stared at her like she was crazy, then started laughing.
“Really? You’re joking about this?”
Grace shrugged. “You said you liked my sharp tongue.”
“I also said it’s going to kill me.” Grinning, he picked her up and lifted her onto his lap, her knees landing on either side of his hips. “You have to be sure—”
“Don’t even try to talk me out of this or I might take you up on it.” Swallowing her nerves, she met his eyes and nodded. “I’m good. It feels… right. I’m not sure if I believe in the destiny stuff, but I know what I feel and it’s not like anything else. This is… this is right. Just tell me, will it hurt?”
“Not at all, plehara. From what I can remember, it
feels rather… incredible.” Leaning his head back, he tilted his perfect fucking jawline to the side and exposed his throat. “All you need to do is drink.”
“How will I know when to stop?” she asked, her nerves clanging to life as he chuckled.
“You’ll stop as soon as the change starts. Now, come here.” He lifted her with ease again, cock prodding her entrance until he slowly slid her down. There was a delicious ache as he stretched her, a buzzing tease of the rampant need she’d felt before. Fortunately, he’d returned to a much more manageable size, but it still sent a shiver through her as she felt him bottom out inside her.
“We have to be having sex?” she asked, and he grinned.
“No, this is for my benefit. You’re probably going to have a few orgasms, and I want to reap the benefits.”
Orgasms and immortality and a hot not-a-hallucination to spend it with? Not a bad deal, Grace.
“All you have to do is drink,” he reminded her, then the ends of his fingers turned dark, sharp claws forming, and he dragged one down in a thin line that spilled blood fast. Before she could panic, Nic pulled her to him, and she forced herself to open her mouth.
Hello bright lights, sparkling flashes, and fire. Heat washed through her, caught her aflame with radiant, golden sunlight. She swallowed again, and there was life, oxygen, miracles popping in her veins like bubbles of pure ecstasy.
The first orgasm hit almost immediately, and she held on tighter, but it wasn’t needed because Nic had her in his arms. Nicomachus was holding her as another wave of liquid sunlight poured inside her, and she felt like she could see everything — the boy he’d been, the young man, the mischievous prankster, the roguish lover. She saw the woods he’d hunted in the day he got lost, how the night fell, and he was taken, fed on, changed. A different world, an ancient one that history books got wrong in so many ways.
There it was, unfolding, good things and bad things, right and wrong, mixed up and funneled through everything that made Nicomachus who he was. Every decision was an open book, every thought, every whirling flash that tasted sweet and like summer and winter and the power of all things in the earth — and then there was her. On a stone table, and she felt his hunger. Felt the pull from his side, the heart-crushing need for a missing half that had been missing too long.
Her mind sank, buoyed, floated on a glittering landscape that exploded into shrapnel made of light… and then she was lost in another orgasm. Ripped away from the visions, the images, barely aware of the way all that she’d felt was coalescing inside her. Fusing with bone and blood and muscle, becoming so much a part of who she was that there was no line between that raw, wild power and her.
Even better, she felt Nic. Like an indefinable point of reference. The same way compasses always found North — she would always find Nicomachus. They were connected, beyond the reach of even that great power that somehow was a part of her now.
He was hers, and she was his.
Plehara.
The old Grace was gone, changed by the newness of everything more. But she was still her inside of it all, still felt like herself — just better, so much better. And she knew what she wanted more than anything else, and as the world seemed to come back into focus, she realized he was curled around her, his arm draped across her as he hugged her tight… asleep.
Settling against him, she let the exhaustion drag her back down, because when she woke, she knew Nic would be there. They’d have a forever of tomorrows to explore the world, because they’d found the one thing so many people looked for, the thing that Nic couldn’t think of a modern translation for.
A soulmate.
And she’d found hers in a hot, definitely not a hallucination, clever, funny, trickster of a vampire.
Absolutely, totally, worth it.
THE END
About Cassandra Faye
Cassandra Faye is the alter ego of USA TODAY Bestselling Author, Jennifer Bene.
She writes the stories she's always craved.
Taking paranormal and fantasy worlds, mixing them in with modern day, and adding a dash of darkness. She also writes dark contemporary romance as Jennifer Bene.
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Bite Me: A Vampire Anthology Page 49